Nandlall moves to CCJ to over law books

Jan 25, 2020 News

Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, yesterday told the court that he will be approaching the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Guyana’s last court of resolution, to overturn the ruling of the Appeal Court.

Anil Nandlall

Last month Nandlall failed in another bid to have the charge against him quashed. He had approached the Court of Appeal to request a judicial review of a decision by Magistrate Fabayo Azore to overrule a no-case submission in his trial for the alleged theft of Law Reports.
Following the Magistrate’s ruling, Nandlall was called on to lead a defence for his charge which alleged that between May 18, 2015 and May 29, 2015 while being a bailee, in his then capacity as Attorney General, he fraudulently converted 14 Commonwealth Law Reports valued at $2,313,853, property of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, to his own use and benefit.
Yesterday Nandlall indicated that the order from the Appeal Court will be challenged at the CCJ. He added that a motion of leave was made to the Appeal Court and this will be heard next week Tuesday.
“I am respectfully asking for the matter to be stood down so that I can exhaust my constitutional rights as a citizen of this country.”
A number of documents including letters from his lawyers were then presented to the court. Nandlall then asked for a six-week period to have sufficient time to approach the CCJ and report on it proceedings.
However, the matter was adjourned to February 21, next, for the defendant to report on what they were able to get done so far.
The Court of Appeal in its ruling had said that it will not intervene in the matter as the trial is already underway.
While the court said it can exercise its supervisory jurisdiction to review such a decision by a Magistrate, this is only in extreme and limited circumstances.
The ruling of the Court of Appeal paved the way for Magistrate Azore to continue hearing evidence in the trial. In the meantime, the former Attorney General, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge, is out in self bail.
Nandlall was previously reported as saying that when he took up the post as Attorney General, he did so at a loss and it was for that reason he agitated for the State to pay for the Law Reports.
He had said that the arrangement received the blessings of then Head of State Donald Ramotar. However, investigators are contending that because the books were bought with State funds, they cannot be the property of Nandlall, and in fact, the State should not have entered into such an arrangement in the first place.
The Ministry of Legal Affairs is contending that there is no evidence of an agreement between Nandlall and Ramotar.
And even assuming that there was such an agreement, the use of public funds in this manner is a flagrant violation of the Financial Management and Accountability Act.
Nandlall was charged after SOCU, an arm of the Guyana Police Force, completed investigations.

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